Air flow control device



Feb. 24 1942- J. L. CHILDERs E'rAL AIR FLOW CONTROL DEVICE `Fi1ed`Apri1 24.4 1959 Il 1f i Patented Feb. 24, 1942 i Am rLow CONTROL DEVICE Joseph Louis Childers and Albert Edward Parker,

, Dallas, Tex.

Application April 24, 1939, serial Naassnoc 1 Claim.

This invention relates to the art of supplying warm or cool, fresh or treated air to rooms or other enclosures for heating, cooling, Ventilating, air conditioning or other purposes, and has for its general object to provide an airflow control device for association with an air supply duct to regulate the amount of air delivered from the duct` through a bottom or side outlet opening therein, and to direct the air through said opening so that there is little loss in velocity of the delivered air and the total volume thereof is distributed substantially uniformly throughout the area of said opening.

Another. object of the invention is to provide a device for the purpose stated which is simple'in construction, strong, durable and comparatively cheap and easy to produce: which may readily be mounted in operative relationship .to an air supply duct; which embodies simple means for the adjustment-thereof to regulate the amount of air delivered therethrough, and which is highly efficient injoperation. p

With the foregoing and otherobjects in view, which will become ,more fully apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in a device for the4 purpose stated embodying the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and defined in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding /parts in the different views: y

Figure lis a longitudinal section through an air flow ,control device constructed in'accordance with one vpractical embodiment of the invention and showing the device operatively'mounted in an air supply duct, open and closed positions of the adjustable air' -flow control elements of the device being shown by full and dotted lines,'re 4spectvely.

Figure 2 is a top ,plan view of the device with ,f the adjustable air flow control elements thereof in closed positions; and

Figure 3 is `a detail elevation of the lower vporftiontof one of the air flow control elements.

Referring to the .drawing in detail, A desig-l nates a portion of an air supply duct having a brano uct a extending downwardly therefrom,

and B designates, generally, the present device for controlling flow of air from said duct A to and through said branch duct a.'

The device B comprises awertically disposed, open-ended casing of rectangular shape in cross section, designated generally as I0, composed of a front wall II, a rear wall I2, and side walls Il,

I3, and in` accordance with the invention this casing, which is of a cross sectional size to closely t within the branch duct a, isdisposed in said branch duct and fastened therein in anysuitable manner with the upper edges .of its front and rear walls II and I2 disposed preferably, but not necessarily, approximately in the plane of 'the lower wall of the duct A.

Within the casing III at each side thereof is a pair of arms comprising an upper arm I4 and a lower arm I5, and in accordance with the invention these armsare of lengths approximately equal to the length of said casing I0 and at their front'ends are pivoted to the-side walls I3, I3 adjacent to the front wall II by rivets, pins,

screws or the'like I6 which' are vertically alinedand suitably spaced apart, whereby said arms are swingable between horizontal positions as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 and upwardly and rearwardly inclined positions as shown by full lines in said'figure.

Extending transversely of the casing Il l between the two pairs of arms I4, I5 is a series of vanes I1 each comprising a vertically disposed lower end portion I8 and a. forwardly directed tween the two pairs of arms I4, I5. At their 'sideedges the vertically disposed lower portions I1 of said vanes are provided with flanges 2|, and connecting these flanges with the arms Il; I5 are vertically alined pivots 22 which are vertically spaced apart distances equal to the vertical spacing of the pivotal connections I6 of the front ends of said arms with the casing side walls I3.

Y 13. Accordingly, the arms I4, I5 together'with the vanes I1 comprise a parallelogram structure.

in which the vertical and horizontal lower and upper end portions of said vanes are maintained -vertically and. horizontally disposed despite swinging of the arms' Il, I5. 1 l

The vanes I1 may or may not be duplicates of one another, but in any event they are suitably' spaced apart along the arms I4, I5, and their horizontal upper end portions I9 are of such lengths, that when said arms Il, -I5 are swung to approximately horizontal positions 'as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, their said horizontal upper end portions I9 areI disposed in substantiallyv a common horizontal plane and in end to v movement of the arms I4, I5.

end relationship so that they cooperate with each other to practically completely close the casing I against flow of air therethrough from the duct A. On the other hand, when the arms I4, I5 are swung upwardly, the vvanes II obviously are caused to become upwardly and rearwardly stepped or echel'oned with respect to each other, as shown by full lines in Fig. 1, thereby providing therebetween a plurality of air passageways each comprising a horizontal upper end portion and a vertical lower end portion. 'Accordingly'. air owing through the duct A in the direction of the arrow :c enters the open front ends of the horizontal upper portions of said passageways and by the curved portions of the vanes I'I is directed downwardly through the vertical lower portions of said passageways and through the casing I0 with little loss in velocity. Moreover, since the lower ends of said passageways are alined with different portions of the casing I 0 and since substantially equal amounts of air flow through the respective passageways, it is apparent that the 'total volume of air flowing through the casing I0 is substantially uniformly' disl tributed throughout the area of said casing.

varying the upward and rearward inclination of said arms I4, I5; the amount of air flowing from the duct A through the casing II! and therefore through the branch duct a may be regulated.

Any suitable means may be employed for swinging the arms I4, I5, but one simple, practical means for this purpose is illustrated in the drawing as comprising a gear housing 23 disposed within the casing I0 at the front end thereof below the arms I4, I5 and suitably fastened to the front wall I I of saidcasing I0; a vertically disposed worm 24 in said housing having the lower end portion 25 of its shaft exposed'at the bottom of said housing to be engaged .by any suitable implement for effecting rotation of the worm; a worm Wheel 26 journaled in said housing upon a horizontal shaft 2'I and in meshrwith said worm; and an arm 28 fixed yat one end to said shaft 21 and suitably connected at its other end to one of the vanes Il. Thus, by rotating the worm 24 the worm wheel 26 is rotated and the arm 28 thereby is swung and effects swinging Moreover, the worm and worm wheel serve as a lock to hold said arms I4, I5 in any position to which they may be adjusted.

A suitable connection between the armV 28 and one of the vanes II may comprise a pin 29 carried -by the lower end portion of the vane in the manner illustrated by way of example in Fig. 3 of the drawing and disposed in a slot 30 provided in the free end portion of said arm 28.

If desired, the vanes Il may be completely or partly covered by any suitable fabric. felt or the like for sound deadening purposes and to assist sealing cooperation of the vanes with each other when they are in their closed position shown by dotted lines in Fig. l.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the inventionlwill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of conther including a plurality of blades having firstr and second end portions disposed at substantially right angles to each other, the first end portions of said blades being disposed substantially parallel to each other and also substantially parallel to the' supply duct when said casing is disposed in the branch duct, the second end portions of said blades being disposed substantially parallel to each other and also substantially parallel to said casing, means mounting said blades in said casing for collective swinging movement between a position in which their rst end portions are disposed substantially in alinement with each other transversely across said casing in closing relationship thereto and a position in which their first end portions are disposed in spaced, parallel relationship to each other Within the supply duct and their second end portionsare'alined'with said casing when the casing is disposed in the branch duct, so that fluid flowing through the supply duct is deflected by said blades irito the branch duct, said mounting means comprising parallel bars pivotally mounted upon said casing and to which said blades are pivoted at spaced I 

